UK Emerging Market Data

UK emerging market data contained within the UK Stocks Database

The best place to learn about emerging markets in the 21st century is London in the 19th Century. The stocks of every nation in the world traded on the London Stock Exchange. In the 1820s, the mining stocks of South America went through the largest bubble in London between 1720 and 1920, and after South America gained their independence, the countries issued bonds in London which soon crashed. In the 1840s, not only did the railroads of England get their financing in London, but railroads in France, the United States, India and other countries all raised money in London.

It should be remembered that in the early 1800s, the United States was an emerging market. The United States government as well as railroads issued many of its bonds in London. The Confederate States issued bonds backed by cotton during the civil war which eventually became worthless.

Entrepreneurs in British colonies throughout the world used London as their primary source of capital. Not only did Britain’s colonies raise most of their capital in London (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and others), but many South American companies (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and others) saw London as the main market for their stocks. Larger continental companies, especially railroads, raised money in London as well.

The UK Stocks Database includes data on over 2500 companies that operated in over 80 countries throughout the world. Foreign companies raised capital in London because there were no local financial markets that they could rely upon. Consequently, it is impossible to understand the behavior of emerging markets without analyzing the shares that were listed in London in the 1800s and early 1900s.

During the 21st Century, global growth will come from developing countries. China, India, Russia and other countries that were shackled by Communism and Socialism are now integrated into the globalized world economy. To understand how they will perform in the 21st Century, you need to study how emerging markets responded to the globalization of the world in the 1800s.